Here's my two tips that I think will allow you to really enjoy the capability this little guy has to offer.

1)get that bean probe asap. Id drill the door you have know, and order a new one for the unmolested one to put in the cabinet. (though i dont know for sure, I highly doubt Michael from HottopUSA would give you grief on warranty issues because of that, BUT, I dont criticize your decision either)

2)Roast batches of beans that are in the 150-170gram area. Be aware, the roast will progress very quickly if you try and use the same profile as if you had a full load in there, and you can definitely burn your house down if you leave the roaster alone with so few beans in it, BUT, that said, as long as you are at the roaster at all times, you'll be fine. And the batch sizes may sound low, but the control you have over them is wonderful. Your ramps can be much more aggressive. Honestly, its my opinion that at this batch size, the Hottop approaches the capability of proper sample roasters.

Oh yeah, one last thing. DONT HIT THAT EJECT BUTTON mid-roast when the roaster hits the pre-set hightemp checkpoints. Its a sure fire way to add a frown to your day :-)

It is good to hear about Michael for a former Z&D user. I had the idea Hottop would give good support. That they don't freak over mods is really good news.

Thanks,

Phil

Sam21 Said:

There is a thread on the sweet Maria's forum with user experience and advice on the Hottop. It's been helpful for many new users as it does not take into account any added temp probes.

I have probes in mine, but roasted for a few months without them too. Honestly, the coffee doesn't come out tasting any better, but I have more room to adjust and change the roast. When I say that the coffee is not necessarily better, that's because it has always been great... Aside from one roast of a Kenyan bean that went way too fast. A sour mess. Yuck.

Also, I spoke to Michael at Hottop right after getting bean probes installed and he didn't bat an eyelash at my question about the warranty being compromised. He had just helped me with a control panel/bean probe malfunction. He personally knows the guy that did the work on my machine so that might be part of it, but you coul definitely do a bean probe through the chute without issue.

Thanks for that link. It looks like I'm going to need to start watching HB a bit more now that I have a Hottop. Even if that 900 Watt heater was a one-off unit I'm still encouraged. With an external auto-transformer one should be able to boost the power to the heater in a manner similar to what I did with the Z&D. Of course doing this renders the heater a consumable. With the Z&D this is a real pain as Nesco refuses to sell the heaters. I'm guessing that I can buy all the Hottop heaters I would like.

Phil

germantownrob Said:

I believe the replacement chute covers are only $10.

I did find more info on the 900w element, it was something JohnB was able to get from Michael from some testing on the 1lb model. They are not available. One of John's mods that allows for the extra power was he added bigger agitation fins to the drum. Page 3 of this thread is some of the discussion. Click Here (www.home-barista.com)

Thanks for the reply. The suggestion of using smaller batches is good. After getting the probe in there I should be able to achieve the same profiles I was using with the Z&D before I come up with a method to get more available power. I was able to get ~700 Watts out of the roast heater in the little Z&D. Of course that meant that the non-obtainable roast heaters were consumable.

Phil

Jmanespresso Said:

Hey nice roaster! The hottop B is a wonderful tool, I love mine.

Here's my two tips that I think will allow you to really enjoy the capability this little guy has to offer.

1)get that bean probe asap. Id drill the door you have know, and order a new one for the unmolested one to put in the cabinet. (though i dont know for sure, I highly doubt Michael from HottopUSA would give you grief on warranty issues because of that, BUT, I dont criticize your decision either)

2)Roast batches of beans that are in the 150-170gram area. Be aware, the roast will progress very quickly if you try and use the same profile as if you had a full load in there, and you can definitely burn your house down if you leave the roaster alone with so few beans in it, BUT, that said, as long as you are at the roaster at all times, you'll be fine. And the batch sizes may sound low, but the control you have over them is wonderful. Your ramps can be much more aggressive. Honestly, its my opinion that at this batch size, the Hottop approaches the capability of proper sample roasters.

Oh yeah, one last thing. DONT HIT THAT EJECT BUTTON mid-roast when the roaster hits the pre-set hightemp checkpoints. Its a sure fire way to add a frown to your day :-)

Phil you sure can for $60 each. I replaced the heater after 3 years and hundreds of roasts, I had bent it back into shape so many times I thought it must need replacing, the new one did not perform any different. The HotTop USA website may not be the most modern or easiest to navigate but the entire schematic and every part is available including screws.

As mentioned by many of us HotTop owners Michael takes very good care of us. I bought my reconditioned roaster from him and even after two years he replaced my front board when it was acting up, I was more then willing to pay for a replacement but he wouldn't here it. He answered all of my stupidest questions in a very timely manner.

Something I have not kept up with much is that you can now replace the board and run the HotTop from a laptop. HB has some good threads on the HotTop with lots of pics for how to mods.

The rear filters can get expensive to replace, some have successesfully washed them but it never worked for me. I would just rotate them 180 and use them for maybe 15-20 roasts. Since all it does it catch partial debris they can be swapped with Brillo pad or a computer fan screen but this will change the air flow compared to the paper.

That Hottop web-page is amazing to an old Z&D user. I'm tempted to forward it to Nesco with the comment that this is the way a real coffee roaster does business.

Phil

germantownrob Said:

Phil you sure can for $60 each. I replaced the heater after 3 years and hundreds of roasts, I had bent it back into shape so many times I thought it must need replacing, the new one did not perform any different. The HotTop USA website may not be the most modern or easiest to navigate but the entire schematic and every part is available including screws.

As mentioned by many of us HotTop owners Michael takes very good care of us. I bought my reconditioned roaster from him and even after two years he replaced my front board when it was acting up, I was more then willing to pay for a replacement but he wouldn't here it. He answered all of my stupidest questions in a very timely manner.

Something I have not kept up with much is that you can now replace the board and run the HotTop from a laptop. HB has some good threads on the HotTop with lots of pics for how to mods.

The rear filters can get expensive to replace, some have successesfully washed them but it never worked for me. I would just rotate them 180 and use them for maybe 15-20 roasts. Since all it does it catch partial debris they can be swapped with Brillo pad or a computer fan screen but this will change the air flow compared to the paper.

I was afraid you would give me a chiding for not building my own. One would think a retired person would have nothing but time but the PID parts are still in the box for my Silvia, my main stereo system needs to be built, and I've got to get my '29 Ford running while my grand-kids still will get a kick out of riding in it. My "gearhead chops" are still somewhat intact but spread thin.

Thanks for the link. There are some interesting things there. The first thing which comes to mind is a mod to disable or mitigate the the cool-down wait Hottop imposes. I have come to view the heat left from my completed roast as the pre-heat for the next roast. Imagine my surprise that Hottop doesn't permit that. In addition the preheat in the Hottop takes a long time. I guess that should be no surprise with the relatively big roaster having about the same power which I was dumping into the little Z&D during preheat. You can bet I will be studying that mod.

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